*./configure --prefix=... for autotooled projects@ 2015-04-19 22:39 Eric Wong0 siblings, 0 replies; 1+ messages in thread
From: Eric Wong @ 2015-04-19 22:39 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: misc
autoconf (and any build systems emulating the "./configure" build script)
support a nice --prefix= switch which allows you to install the software
to an easily writable section of your filesystem.
No need for containers, chroots, root access, or weird, package-specific
build/packaging scripts such as RVM (Ruby Version Manager). Just set
PATH and LD_LIBRARY_PATH appropriately.
I can still link to system libraries provided by my GNU/Linux distro, or
I can pass additional arguments and use LD_LIBRARY_PATH/-Wl,-rpath as
necessary to point linkage to newer development versions as needed.
I do this for each project I want the latest revisions of and leave any
distribution-supplied installations untouched.
Sometimes I'll even configure the prefix to be /tmp/$SOMETHING if I
don't care about using something past a reboot :)
Fwiw, GNU/Linux distribution maintainers are likely to set --prefix=/usr
whereas the default is --prefix=/usr/local
And even non-autotooled build systems such as the default GNU Make-based
build system in git supports it. Heck, git was probably the first
project I encountered to default the prefix to $HOME instead of
/usr/local
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